Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Super Busy Week!

My weekly e-mail to y'all this week is kind of short because it has been super busy for me! Last week there was a Zone Leader Conference and all of the leaders and elders went to Farmington. Last Sunday night we stayed in Gallup with the Zone Leaders and Monday and Tuesday I spent hanging out with some of the other elders. I do believe that the timing for this conference was definatley inspired. I went to a lot of appointments with Elder Totten and Elder Hunsaker. There was a family they wanted to extend a baptism date to. We got talking with them and we got into the lesson about the commandments. The Zone Leader extended a baptism commitment to the kids because the mom is already a member and she has 4 kids. Anyway they extended a date and commited them to be baptized. I felt inspired to ask the dad a question, "Brother Smith as you come to know these things are true will you be baptized with your family?" He hesitated but said he would! It has been great to see the spirit work on someone because it makes them think about things that they might not have ever thought about before. Then the spirit testifies to them that what they are learning is right! So that was on Tuesday. When my companion and I returned we had a really good day of teaching in Tohatchi. Then the Zone Leaders wanted to go on exchanges so then I ended up in Gallup on Thursday. We went looking for potentials and talked to some Nuns who were walking around for a minute which was fun! Then we helped some new members move into the ward and the husband was battling cancer. We talked for a long while and then somehow the Sister Missionaries ended up at the same house so we talked for a solid hour! Before we left the dad asked me to give him a blessing! I know right! My first transfer and I have already given 3 blessings. One of healing, one of comfort and a confirmation! It really does fulfill the blessing that the Stake President gave me when he set me apart. I have also seen alot of things so far that my Patriarchal Blessing said would happen. It amazes me how the Lord works and that he will keep all of his promises if we keep ours!
Really quick to answer some of your questions. The people we teach are all Navajo or at least married to one. Most are traditional Navajo's where they perform their native ceremonies and prayers. They believe all religions are true and we all pray to the same person but the Navajo pray to what they call "The Holy People" and also the pray to four sacred mountains, one in each direction. On P-Days we mostly lounge around, we have massive Nerf wars with our Zone and play some other sports. We go shopping once a week and have to buy food to last us a whole week on $130! This is really hard because on the reservation we get fed maybe once a month if we are lucky. It is a little frustrating but I guess good for budgeting.
The cleaning is going better. We had a mice problem but hopefully we got them all. We have a fly probelm and a small spider problem now. I have gotten really good at catching files in a water bottle and shooting them with my nerf gun! Other than that we are doing good.

I love you all and am stoked to hear back from you!
Love,
Elder Christensen